Kentish Town: Explain the Name

It’s sort of like Kent, right?

[michaeljames]

Ah, this is where the savvy North London denizen commenter moves in for the kill, at last… it is indeed Ken Ditch, with the Ken being an olde name of that branch of the Fleet… which rises, where, you ask? _Why, in Ken Wood, of course!_ Hence today’s Kenwood House.

There are surviving traces of the Fleet’s echoes, Angler’s Lane in Kentish Town, and of course the road that runs up to South End Green is Fleet Road naturally. But if not as old as the tributary the City of London Corporation, which owns Hampstead Heath, can lay claim to a near millennium of history…

Those familiar with the area will note that a few years back there was a massive civil engineering project there, whose main focus was doubling the height of the boating pond (when they drained the original they found an abandoned car). I asked one of the Corporation’s men why they were going to such a huge expense, he explained it was due to the likelihood of climate change. For if there was a one in five hundred year flood, any time soon, everyone living in the basements in Kentish Town would drown in their beds, from the overflowing water coming from the Heath, which would likely impact the City’s finances somewhat poorly.

The Fleet may have been culverted long past but nature will still follow the dominant topography of the area regardless.

[t.a.k.palfrey]

Kent is the Anglo-Saxon derivation of the Celtic word ceint (the Welsh for the county of Kent is Sîr Ceint). It means a place on the edge, or sticking out from the centre. The old kingdon of Kent certainly stuck out on the Southeastern edge of Britain. Perhaps, 2000 yrs ago there was a settlement at today's Kentish Town, a place on the edge of a larger settlement - Londinium possibly?

[julianaylor]

Next time you go to Wembley Stadium, remember than the town is named after a Saxon land owner called Wemba, who is mentioned in the Doomsday Book..it's Wemba's Lea, aka his fields. Many London areas are very old, so the Kentish Town idea, makes as much sense as any. Kentish Town isn't in the Doomsday Book as far as I know, but Harrow and bits of what is now Westminster and the City of London are, as I think are the areas, that are now Hampstead and Richmond, both being hunting grounds and the Normans like to shoot this that and the other, for the dinner table.

[simsportif]

Never have i pondered the meaning of its name, the only thing kentish town reminds me of is the goddamn hurricane blowing at you every time you exit the tube station. God almighty how windy this station is.

[andyjay]

Has anyone ever suggested a connection with the Celtic tribe the Cantii? They were the namesakes of Kent, but their lands originally included parts of London, as well as Surrey and Sussex.

[mrb.]

Works for me - Angler's Lane just a few hundred yards from the station is called that because people used to fish in the the River Fleet there !

[JohnDoe-gcpm]

I thought it was from the heptarchy and a bunch of people from Kent settled there and this gave the name, kind of like a "little italy" or "chinatown" sort of name

[vanbc]

One of the first uses of the name in print is found in Storvold's second amendment to the rules of the popular game, Mornington Crescent. I'm a little surprised you didn't pick that up. Your videos are, as ever, a source of great entertainment. Thank you for making them.

[Scruffi]

Whenever I see any references to Kent or Kentish (Kent-like?) things, I cannot help but be reminded of Lee Mack's story on the Graham Norton Show, and that always makes me smile.

[johnpalmer]

The river was possibly known as the 'Ken' at one time, before it became the 'Fleet'. the former sounds Saxon and the latter may be Norman French? It flows from KenWood, next to Hampstead heath

[greenisnotacreativecolour]

Having frequented the Kentish Town area for many years, and passed it on the tube and especially the overground for many more, I have never even for a second wondered where the name came from, but now having watched your video I will now explain it to anyone who has the misfortune to accompany me on a future journey past either Kentish Town or Kentish Town West, in the hope that they have asked themselves the question I never did and require unrequested enlightenment.

[emmas]

Just to throw another theory into the mix. I have the book "What's in a name?" by Cyril M. Harris and for Kentish Town it says the name was recorded in 1208 as Kentisston, seemingly derived from the farm held by someone named le Kentiss(h). I won't steal his thunder by going into too much detail of the entry, but it is a fascinating little book.

[davidt-rex]

The funniest thing I heard about kentish town. Gogglebox "it's either in kent or isn't, it can't be kentish"

Well it made me laugh.

[johnjephcote]

I used to attend North Western Poly nearby and would recommend Gillian Tyndall's 'The Fields Beneath' about Kentish Town. Nelson once had occasion to stay here, as he said, "To keep an eye on the Fleet".

[apollo.c.vermouth]

Maybe the more well-heeled members of the ancient Cantii tribe used to keep a pied-a-terre there? Perhaps so they could catch a gig at the famous Urbe Et Rus club?

[martinnyberg]

3:13 The rude euphemism hypothesis *could* be backwards. The rude term could come from the proper, now out of use, term for some water feature. Where I was born (Stockholm) there is an old name for the area around the channel from Lake Mälaren to the Baltic south of the old city island, these days called Slussen for the shipping lock that was built there in the 1800s (and rebuilt several times since then, most recently just now), that to modern ears might sound rude. But back then it was simply the word used for a boggy wetland kind of shore, in this case combined with a place for finding bait for fishing: “Agnefit”.

There’s even a TuB-station (the Stockholm underground is a Tunnelbana, tunnel-railway, official abbreviation TuB) south of town that even more resembles the modern rude euphemism: Fittja. The place is situated between two lakes, so to origin is identical.

[LesD]

Well now, up here on the border between Birmingham and Solihull, we have a whole row of shops called 'Kentish New Town, 1883', complete with its own name plaque. Just opposite McDonalds in Olton if anyone's interested. (52°26'30.7"N 1°48'39.7"W)

Local history has it 'egotistically' named after himself by a wealthy business man!

[ludovica]

When Sir Derek Jacobi was on "Who do you think you are" he was shown some documents of a Stuart era ancestor enjoying the patronage of an Honorable Mr Kendish who subsequently turns out to actually be a Cavendish of the family of the Dukes of Devonshire ... just an idea ...

[SoiBuakhaoRoutemasterbus]

It used to be a busy place did Kentish Town. That shot of the Thameslink pulling away North, to the right was where the engine shed used to be and the lines round to Junction Road Junction. When i grew up in the 1970s the Barking service that ran behind my house went to Kentish Town, although the original service was East Ham (from that bay on the Eastbound platform) to St Pancras. The line curved around Shakespeare Crescent, past Little Ilford District Line depot and joined the line from Barking at Browning Road Bridge and along to Woodgrange Park. When that line closed it ran to Barking and at some point was cut back from St Pancras to end up at Kentish Town. Which wasn't a position of strength, changing it to Gospel Oak made a lot of sense!

[LeoStarrenburg]

What's in a name ? A lot as we learn here !

On a side note I'd like to mention that I 'follow' Jago's videos on Google Maps ánd the wonderful (historical) map collection of the Scottish Library. Exploring Kentish Town I stumbled upon the Midland Mainline and it's 1 mile Belsize tunnel. I'm no Londoner, my last visit - in person - beeing over 40 years ago but I am a fairly keen rail enthousiast and have been reading about London railways etc. for a good half century. Wait, there is a point to my story: In all those years I've never read or heard of said Belsize tunnel, I wonder why that is.

So thank you Mr. Hazzard for broadening my horizon 👍!